


A Bird and a Hood

by Shadic_Renegade



Category: Batman - All Media Types, Nightwing (Comics), Red Hood and the Outlaws (Comics), Red Robin (Comics)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, BAMF Dick Grayson, Damian Wayne is Robin, Dick Grayson is Nightwing, Hurt Tim Drake, Jason Todd is Red Hood, M/M, Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Slow Burn, Tim Drake is Red Robin, Tim Drake was Stray, more tags are
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-11
Updated: 2019-05-03
Packaged: 2019-10-08 01:29:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,379
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17376968
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shadic_Renegade/pseuds/Shadic_Renegade
Summary: After Jason died, Tim felt like he lost a part of himself. He drove himself to be better, drove to prove himself to Bruce Wayne. The fracking Batman. After a fight in the Titan's Tower, Tim has come to a chilling realization. Jason Todd was back. He thought that he would be happy, but he just felt more lost than before.





	1. Prologue

Robin slowly stood up, every part of his body aching. He glanced at the Joker, then to his broken hand. He frowned, ‘That’s gonna take forever to heal.’ His thought process was slow. Robin shivered and looked around the warehouse as the Joker laughed. His cursed laugh bounced off the walls.

“Little Birdy.” The Joker sang softly. Robin’s gaze returned to the Joker. “Stop looking for ways out. Because you're my bird now.” The Joker lunged at the small Robin, and Robin scrambled back, flashing out a Batarang and slicing at the Joker. Robin flinched as he felt a blow to his stomach.

Robin took out his grapple hook and slammed down a smoke bomb. As the floor started to fill with smoke, Robin shot the hook to the rafters. He settled on it, looking down at the Joker look around. Robin wrapped his hand up and ripped the gauze with teeth. His hand radiated in pain, and a headache was full on assaulting him. The smoke cleared and Robin swung down, kicking Joker in the face. “Not even close!”

The Robin’s voice was deep, a result taken by the voice modifier. The Joker threw a Batarang that snapped the coil in half. Robin yelped and hit the ground. Nose cracking against the asphalt. Robin tried to get up, but a blow to his back forced him down. He slowly opened his eyes in pain and looked at what was being dragged. ‘A crowbar…’ Robin closed his eyes and there was a hit to his side.

Robin jerked and curled up, arms going around his chest and stomach. The crowbar came down again. ‘Four… Five… Six… What number am I on…?’ he thought dimly. Vision spotting with black as white-hot pain searing across his whole body. Robin was fighting to keep his eyes open. He needed to. For Batman... For Bruce… his dad. ‘Where is he?’ he thought soon after the beating stopped.

He felt himself be lifted up, the white skin touching him. He felt a rope around his wrist and his jaw forced open. A gag being forced into his mouth. Robin tried to blink away the blurriness, but it didn’t work. The gag and his busted nose made it hard to breathe. Robin watched the purple and green dressed figure walk away. Setting a timer.

The door slammed shut, a lock ringing in the room. The broken bird tried to call for help, but all that came out was a gurgled sound. He started to freak out. Hot tears ran down his face. ‘Where’s Bruce?’ Even the bitter voice in his head sounded broken. Robin looked at the timer. There were twenty seconds left.

Robin let his eyes slide closed, and for the first time in a while, he prayed. He wanted to come out of here alive, but If he didn’t…? He prayed for Nightwing. Yes, Nightwing didn’t exactly like him, and all he wanted was a brotherly figure to look up too, but he prayed that Nightwing would get over his death.

He prayed for Bruce to forgive himself. And Alfred… god, Alfred. A few more tears fell and Robin started coughing. It felt wet and tasted metallic. He couldn’t swallow it, his throat hurt, and he couldn’t spit it out because of the gag.

He slowly opened his eyes and looked at the time. He was dizzy. He thought it said fifteen seconds were left, but he was wrong. As the clock counted down from five, Jason looked through the crack in the ceiling. The stars burned bright in the night, and a drop of water hit his cheek. The water mixing with the tears that were non-stop falling. ‘I’m sorry.’ Robin thought. He wanted to say it aloud. He wanted it to sound more permanent. ‘I’m ‘orry…’ He felt a second of pain, then nothing.

His name was Jason Peter Todd.


	2. Prologue 2

Stray knew one thing, and one thing only, Robin was supposed to be here. Robin said that he was going to Ethiopia for a few days, but Stray dismissed the idea that the warehouse explosion was connected to Robin. It didn’t make sense. Stray chewed on his lip, looking at Wayne Manor. He wanted to go by. But it was almost stalking, and the famous philanthropist had his house, and secret, guarded.

Except Stray knew Bruce Wayne’s secret, and Dick Grayson’s, an Jason Todd’s. Catwoman’s protégée sighed and stood up. ‘He’s an hour late, and I have to finish this job.’ Stray slipped his orange-tinted goggles down, his blue eyes shifting to a dark purple.

Stray flipped off the building a little awkwardly. His camera bag tight against him as he landed with the grace of a cat. He walked to the edge when he heard the Gotham signature female scream.

Stray groaned and sat his camera bag down, slipping down the wall to land in a silent crouch. He straightened and ran a hand through his hair, messy from the wind. He slipped into his persona with ease.

Stray gave a smooth whistle and the thugs looked up. Stray’s stomach dropped as he saw the victim. She was bleeding around her stomach. A strong hatred rose when he realized that she was pregnant. Stray closed his eyes. There was too much blood. He needed to get her help fast.

Stray walked forwards, hips swaying gently. “That’s not how you treat a lady.” Stray said gently. The guys looked him up and he resisted the urge to throw up. These guys were sick, though his distraction was well kept.

Stray lunged and scratched the underbelly of the first one with the diamond-encrusted claws. The guy gave a pitiful scream and clutched his stomach. Stray spun and sent a kick to the head of the other.

Stray misjudged his height and ended up kicking the guy's throat. He went down gasping for air. Stray forced him up and his vision flashed black when there was a blow to his head. Stray dropped the other and held his head with a small whine. “Why’d you hurt me?” he pouted and the guy hesitated in that second. Stray knocked him down and slammed their heads together.

“Don’t play the game if you can’t take the pain.” Stray snarled. He was still pissed off so he roughly brought his foot down once, cracking a few ribs, he kicked the other in the gut and stood there panting, chest heaving. He wiped his face then looked at his hand, there was blood on it. He sighed, then his heart leaped at a thought.

“Oh god.” He sprinted over and checked the girl for a pulse, she was bleeding out. He sent a call. “Cat, I got a stab wound to the stomach, the girl’s roughly 17 and pregnant. There’s…. There’s too much blood I-”

“What’s your coordinates?” Stray gave them to her quickly. “Kitten, you need to find something to keep pressure on the wound. How deep is the cut.” Stray’s breathing was ragged as he sloppily took his top off. He would apologize later.

“Miss? Miss, can you hear me?” Stray pressed his suit into the wound and she cried out in pain. Stray almost pulled back, but he forced himself to remain still. “What’s your name?”

“A-Amanda W-Watson” She shakily muttered out.

“Cat- It’s too deep. I-If she lives-“

“I’m almost there kitten, breathe for me. Stay focused on saving her.”

“Okay.” Stray whispered. He counted the time. It took two minutes for Catwoman to get there, three minutes for the two of them to take Amanda Watson to the hospital. Then about ten to get back to Catwoman’s hideout.

Stray looked at his bloody shirt. He felt his goggles leave his face and heard them hit the ground. “Tim…” Selina started softly, wiping a tear from his face.

“Will she be okay?” Tim Drake’s voice was weak.

Selina looked hesitant but told him to the truth. “No. We were too late,” she whispered, pulling him into a hug.

The twelve-year-old buried his head into her shoulder and hugged her tightly. He didn’t keep crying, though. He just pushed it back. He was good at pushing it back. “Go take a shower.” 

Tim nodded and closed his eyes as he felt her warm lips kiss his forehead. “Okay.” Tim started to the bathroom shakily.

Selina sighed when the water started running. Her delicate fingers pulled her cell phone. She read through some of the text, smiling at something Pamela sent her. She paused at a text that came from Bruce, and her heart sank.

Her hand covered her mouth and she looked at the bathroom door. “Oh god.” She sat down and watched the door, wondering how she was going to tell her kit.

A few minutes later, Tim came out, a towel draped around his head. He stopped short after looking at Selina’s body language. “What’s wrong?”

“Tim, you should sit down. Confusion ran all over Tim’s face as he slowly sat down. “There was an accident in Ethiopia.”

“Wait- That’s where Robin is, right?”

“Yes. That’s where Robin was.” She waited for Tim to say what he thought, but Tim was deadly silent. “The Joker killed him.” She wanted to spare him the details.

Tim just blue screened, something Jason would always make fun of him for. Freezing up suddenly. Not thoughts going through his mind. He didn’t know what he was thinking. He didn’t know what to think. He heard Selina call his names a few times, gently at first, then more worried as he didn’t respond. Her voice seemed as if it was far away. Or underwater. He didn’t know which. She touched his shoulder and Tim pulled away. “Are you okay?”

Tim’s head nodded on its own accord. “I’m fine.” The lie was just as natural as the nod.

“You should get home. Want me to take you home?”

Tim shook his head. “No, I’m fine by myself. Thank you for telling me, Selina.”

She nodded, but the formality shook her as off. “I’ll see you later.”

Before Selina could say anything, Tim was already gone. She threw Tim’s costume into some water to get rid of the blood, soon getting into the shower herself.

A few hours later, Tim was sitting on a gargoyle in the busy city. It wasn’t fair. How the city kept on living. As if the news meant nothing to it. He bit his lip and a tear fell, it wasn’t right. This isn't right. This couldn’t be right. Tim tried to calm down, but he couldn’t. He felt his chest constrict, and the air turn toxic. His thoughts wouldn’t stop racing and Tim clenched his fist. He just sat there and let himself fall apart. His arms brought Jason’s jacket tighter to his person, ignoring how loud his screams were. How hot the tears on his cheeks were. How the city kept living its life without him. He just wanted him back…


	3. Chapter One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While on a phone call with Bruce, a figure meets up with Tim. An overdue confrontation is made on both ends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really sorry for how long this has taken. I typed up this chapter on January 22 and I was waiting for my friend to edit it. As you may assume, this is unedited and I apologize for the long wait.

“I wish there was something I could do, Bruce. I don’t really know the Martian Manhunter well, but if he’s missing…” Robin trailed off. He was looking out from the Titan’s tower in California. The Golden Gate bridge in the distance.

 

“Look, It’s okay. I’ll ask Cyborg for a ride home. Good luck.” Robin ended the call and shut the old fashioned flip phone. He sat it in his bag and rubbed his face, he was tired as hell, questioning the last time he had a proper nap.

 

Robin was proud to be a- “Hey, Tim.” The voice was deep, sending a shiver up the teen's spine. He spun around, cape dramatically swishing on his pivot. “I was here first.” 

 

Timothy Jackson Drake looked at the guy, judging his height, weight, and questioning why the hell he was here. The guy in the red helmet and leather jacket was at least 6’1” and 230 pounds. Tim stared at him in confusion, challenge in his eyes. He got ready to fight when he couldn’t read the other body language. When he couldn't read him. Tim sighed 'Red helmet,' The bird wondered in curiosity. How? Was this another one of Bruce’s test? Tim’s mind came to a screeching halt. ‘I’m a fucking idiot.’

 

“You’re the Red Hood. You’ve been cleaning up Gotham the easy way.” Tim flick his boa staff open and held it defensively.

 

“Easy? What do you know about easy, Tim. You had a father that looked after you. You went to private school right? You slept in a bed.” He clicked a button and took his helmet off. “I slept on the streets. I lived in the alleyways in Gotham.” Tim looked at him, a growing pit in his stomach with each word. There was something about him that just felt… so… familiar. The Red Hood sat his helmet down. “Trying to survive. Until Bruce took me in.” He ripped his shirt off.

 

Tim frowned. He was still assuming that this was Dick, and Dick being, well, Dick, this was a test. It made sense.

Red Hood took the rest of his clothes off, left in the original Robin suit. Tim froze. Dick was too much of a pansy to not put the Robin uniform on for Tim to laugh at. This wasn’t Dick. That meant that… Tim visibly paled, his shoulders pushed back, chest jutting forwards.

 

“I trained as hard as I could. I did whatever he asked… at least at first. But it didn’t matter. They said I wasn’t tough enough to be Robin. But today, they say you are.”   
Tim felt like he couldn’t move. Jason was alive. His Jason was alive, he was jerked out of his thoughts at the next part. “Show me Tim! Show me what you have that I didn’t.” Jason lunged at him, his voice at a shout.

 

Tim broke through the wall at the hit, he didn’t want to fight Jason, but he knew that he had to. “You were this kid, worried about how Batman was spiraling down into darkness.” Tim threw a few smoke bombs around the room to distract Jason.

 

Tim maneuvered to a dodge as a shard of glass shot at him, he barely questioned how it got there. He shoved back his emotions, they weren't needed. What Tim needed to do, was to focus. The mission on hand was to protect the tower, nothing else. Robin needed to get Red Hood out, something was wrong with him.

 

“You spent weeks tracking the Dark Knight. Solving a mystery no one else could.” Tim jumped up in the artifact room. He brought his staff down at Jason's head, and Jason blocked it with his arm. Just his arm and nothing else. Jason flicked his wrist to the side and forced the staff down, “You discovered who he was behind that mask. Millionaire Bruce Wayne. Tim fell unbalanced and flipped backward, trying to gain distance through the smoke.

 

“You were so pleased with yourself I’m sure--” He growled softly, his voice turning to an almost savage snarl. “--That you forgot who you were really dealing with.” Tim gasped and barely dodged Jason landing on him. “Jason stop! It’s me, it’s Stray, we don’t have to fight!” His plea fell on deaf ears.

 

“I know Bruce Wayne, And let me tell you, Tim…” Jason took slow menacing steps to Tim. “If someone was trying to find out who Batman really was. If someone was trailing him for weeks, he’d know about it.” Jason kept walking, backed Tim into a corner. “You can’t be that good.”

 

Jason threw a punch at the younger Robin, and Tim ducked, that finally tipped him over. Tim wasn’t about to be talked down by someone he admired. “I am!” Tim punched him as hard as he could, hearing a satisfying crack.

Jason stumbled back a little and wiped away the blood, “He let you find him! And I bet he said the same thing to you that he said to me,” Jason gave a spinning heel kick; sending Tim into a pot with a tree, shattering the pot to pieces. “Didn’t he?”

Tim struggled a little getting up and rolling out his shoulders, he barely had time to react when Jason threw a birdarang at Tim’s face. “That you had the talent to make a difference in Gotham. That he needed someone he could trust in his war of crime. That you were that one of a kind.”

“Jason you’re upset you need to-”

Jason went on like he didn’t hear. “The light to his darkness. Robin the Boy Wonder.” Tim used the boa staff like a shield, only for Jason to grab it. Jason twisted the staff, popping Tim in the jaw. Tim’s vision went white in hot pain, he dizzily realized that his jaw could be broken. Or fractured, hopefully, it was just fractured.

Tim went to his knees, his breathing was heavy as he covered the left side of his face. It felt numb… his face felt numb. “Now…” Jason growled. “Let me show you that the Joker did to me.”

 

Tim’s breath hitched a little. A barrage of nightmares hit him hard in remembrance “And let’s find out how tough you really are.” Tim was thrown into the door and hit the ground, fighting to stay conscious at this point. Tim looked back, Jason’s shadow looming ominously over him. Tim crawled away as he started coughing. Blood dribbled down his chin and landed on the ground.

 

“Look at this, statues of the fallen Titans. Aquagirl. Hawk. Dove…” He looked at one and growled. “You even have Kole for God’s sake. But where’s my statue?” He looked at Donna Troy’s statue. “I was a Titan too!” Jason screamed, smashing the memorial to the ground.

 

Tim rose his knee, trying to get his feet under him. “What do you want?” His words were slurred, his head bleeding, so was his arm and a few other places Tim didn't notice. “Do you want to be Robin again? Is that it?” He slowly looked up to Jason’s eyes. “You… want to take it away from me?” His voice cracked a little.

 

“Why in the hell would I ever want that? Don’t you get it? When I died no one cared! No one remembered me!”

 

“I remembered you! Every night for the past four fucking years! I haven’t been able to move past your death. When my mom and dad died, I moved on from that. But you?” Tim was shaking. “I’d have to die to forget you.” Tim used his hands and pushed up. “No one could forget you. I’ve spent my career wearing this mask under your shadow. I had to convince Batman to let me try this. All because he’ll never stop blaming himself for what happened to you.” Jason stopped Tim from getting up, “You ask me? That's the only damn reason he hasn’t taken you out. He’s holding back. I want to, but I’m not going to die at the hands of someone I- someone-” Tim growled a small ‘fuck it’ and launched up. He grabbed Jason’s wrist and brought the boa staff against his abusers' jaw.

 

Jason fell down and threw some of the statue dust into Tim’s eyes and mask. “That’s the Robin I wanted to see. Still…” He grabbed the blinded Tim and flipped him over. There was a crack as he hit the wall, “You do realize, the whole idea of training a teenager to fight against something he’ll never eradicate is a mistake. It didn’t surprise anyone when I died. When I failed.” Jason brought his foot down on Tim’s stomach and kicked him again. He then rolled Tim over.

 

“I failed… But here I am... I’m still beating you.” Jason grabbed the front of Tim’s cape, pulling him up to be eye level. “Do you think you’re that good now?!” Jason punched him again and Tim collapsed, another dull crack ringing in his head. “Do you really, Tim?”

 

Tim arched his back in pain. Everything hurt so much. “Yes.” he whispered. He heard a ripping from around his chest and slowly cracked open an eye, only to see Jason’s fist. His head snapped back and his vision left. The pain leaving in his unconscious state.


End file.
